Some of the problem seems to be the willingness of Journ-0-list types to create numbers to fit their political agenda.
Common sense says that native predator numbers are way up. Then there are the non-native , imported, Canadian wolves and...
I am more concerned about the parasites that came in with them (forming hydatid cysts) than I am with their size relative to the timber wolf that was here. According to Val Geist, average wolf size can double or shrink to half just with variations in the food supply in as little as five generations.